So this has been one of those weeks - and it's only Tuesday!
The last few weeks leading up to now have involved me organising everything for the second NZ synchrotron users' meeting. This was held on Monday and Tuesday this week. Overall it was a success, despite the late withdrawal of support from the Australian Synchrotron people (they were going to send 4 or 5 people across to give talks, and 2 weeks ago announced they would only be sending 2). This meant that I had 2 1/2 hours of speaking slots plus chairing a lot of other speaking sessions and directing discussions. Anyway people seemed to get a lot out of it and made some contacts so you can't ask for much more than that.
Now while I would really like a break following a pretty crammed two days, tomorrow sees me doing some last minute sample prep before flying over to Melbourne in the afternoon. We have two sets of experiments scheduled at the synchrotron from Thursday to Monday, the second of which involves some tricky sample prep that I've had to leave to a student who's never been to the synchrotron before, since I've been flat out with the meeting. So tomorrow it'll be head down to work, pick up all the stuff, come back home, pack, and leave... maybe the following week I'll be able to come up for air!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
100 km Trailwalk
Last weekend was the Oxfam Trailwalk challenge. Teams of 4 walking 100 km inside 36 hours, at Lake Taupo.
Christina (a good friend from ye olde physics olympiad days back in 1997) had entered a team and I came along to help as support crew. As it turned out the support was needed!
We had a (relatively) small campervan that we had to drive to each checkpoint and await the team, then put out chairs, prepare whatever food they wanted, rub feet, pass clothes, and so forth. The legs they had to walk varied from 7 to 20 km. The weather was perfect for the event - sunny days and not too hot; although it was bitterly cold at night. But the walkers said as long as they were moving it wasn't too bad.
A welcome break for the walkers - the inside of the campervan was warm and cosy
During the night the team suffered a couple of casualties, with Kat and Mac having to pull out due to injury. They promptly claimed the back of the van and crashed - just as well I had had a couple of naps while waiting at some of the earlier checkpoints.
Driving the van was not as hard as I had feared. While there were some challenging bits, like driving down a steep grassy bank to get to checkpoint 2, and navigating at 3 am, it was pretty fun and I'd be happy to do it again. Cooking food was also pretty straightforward and the further on we got through the event the less people cared about what was on offer.
At checkpoint 7 our final two members had arrived just as dawn was breaking. The previous three legs had all been around 7.3 km and the first two of those hadn't caused any major issues, but the last one left them complaining. So they let me join them for the last leg. Half of this was through paddocks, and half along the lake front along the main drag into town. We put our team t-shirts on (that had been prepared earlier while waiting at the checkpoints) - bearing the team name, 'Are we dead yet?'
Walking through Taupo, 200 metres from the finish line.
Watching Christina and Marama cross the finish line was truly inspirational. Even though the last few steps were at the same pace and with the same hobbling action as the previous ten thousand, they were the most significant. Well done - it's a fantastic achievement.
The team at the finish line, 29 hrs 23 min after beginning the event.
(To donate to Christina's team, please click here.)
Christina (a good friend from ye olde physics olympiad days back in 1997) had entered a team and I came along to help as support crew. As it turned out the support was needed!
We had a (relatively) small campervan that we had to drive to each checkpoint and await the team, then put out chairs, prepare whatever food they wanted, rub feet, pass clothes, and so forth. The legs they had to walk varied from 7 to 20 km. The weather was perfect for the event - sunny days and not too hot; although it was bitterly cold at night. But the walkers said as long as they were moving it wasn't too bad.
A welcome break for the walkers - the inside of the campervan was warm and cosy
During the night the team suffered a couple of casualties, with Kat and Mac having to pull out due to injury. They promptly claimed the back of the van and crashed - just as well I had had a couple of naps while waiting at some of the earlier checkpoints.
Driving the van was not as hard as I had feared. While there were some challenging bits, like driving down a steep grassy bank to get to checkpoint 2, and navigating at 3 am, it was pretty fun and I'd be happy to do it again. Cooking food was also pretty straightforward and the further on we got through the event the less people cared about what was on offer.
At checkpoint 7 our final two members had arrived just as dawn was breaking. The previous three legs had all been around 7.3 km and the first two of those hadn't caused any major issues, but the last one left them complaining. So they let me join them for the last leg. Half of this was through paddocks, and half along the lake front along the main drag into town. We put our team t-shirts on (that had been prepared earlier while waiting at the checkpoints) - bearing the team name, 'Are we dead yet?'
Walking through Taupo, 200 metres from the finish line.
Watching Christina and Marama cross the finish line was truly inspirational. Even though the last few steps were at the same pace and with the same hobbling action as the previous ten thousand, they were the most significant. Well done - it's a fantastic achievement.
The team at the finish line, 29 hrs 23 min after beginning the event.
(To donate to Christina's team, please click here.)
Monday, March 23, 2009
Rewards at last?
So this is part of a package that arrived in my letterbox today. That's right, I've been flying with Air New Zealand too much, they are feeling sorry for me having to sit around crummy airports so they've given me a bunch of freebies. I'm looking forward to waltzing into the lounge next time I'm flying anywhere... checking in at the short line, extra baggage allowance (not that I ever take more than 1 bag), ... all the while taking none of it for granted.
Unfortunately Mum and I are flying Qantas to Scotland in August, so we won't get lounge access on that trip - when it probably would have been appreciated. But as much as the $1000 difference in prices between the Qantas and Air NZ fares? - probably not.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
All the little jobs
Well I have a bunch of stuff that keeps getting put off and as a result they don't get done. Here's what I'd like to get done this weekend (if I had infinite time):
1. Finish painting the window frames of the house. Especially since we're starting to get into autumn, with more days windy and rainy than not - i.e. not conducive painting weather.
2. Clean my house. I can't remember the last time I vacuumed, and I can see the dust on the sideboard so that needs doing too. In the meantime I'm trying not to brush it too much, because then it becomes really obvious. It's not a big job but it involves moving all my knick-knacks and then putting them back, which is annoying.
3. Weed spraying in the front lawn. And they said, Let the weeds be gone and let green grass appear. And it was so.
4. Getting everything ready for CKC next week. This is probably what I will be doing all weekend - cutting out 120 cardboard people shapes for a craft.
5. Weeding in my flower garden. Sometimes therapeutic - an activity that doesn't require any brain power whatsoever.
6. Tidying the house. Find a place for every piece of paper on the table to live, and every bag or piece of clothing lying on the floor. But then I wouldn't be able to find anything.
7. Back up my computer. It's been a while. Also sort out all the sermon files that I've listened to and copy some more over from my super-sized external hard drive to listen to next.
8. Go for a run or a bike ride. But if it's fine I'll feel guilty for not painting, see #1.
9. Start planning next term's activities for CKC. And the holiday programme for (eek!) three weeks' time.
10. Wash my car. It's filthy. And it needs to go for a warrant next weekend.
1. Finish painting the window frames of the house. Especially since we're starting to get into autumn, with more days windy and rainy than not - i.e. not conducive painting weather.
2. Clean my house. I can't remember the last time I vacuumed, and I can see the dust on the sideboard so that needs doing too. In the meantime I'm trying not to brush it too much, because then it becomes really obvious. It's not a big job but it involves moving all my knick-knacks and then putting them back, which is annoying.
3. Weed spraying in the front lawn. And they said, Let the weeds be gone and let green grass appear. And it was so.
4. Getting everything ready for CKC next week. This is probably what I will be doing all weekend - cutting out 120 cardboard people shapes for a craft.
5. Weeding in my flower garden. Sometimes therapeutic - an activity that doesn't require any brain power whatsoever.
6. Tidying the house. Find a place for every piece of paper on the table to live, and every bag or piece of clothing lying on the floor. But then I wouldn't be able to find anything.
7. Back up my computer. It's been a while. Also sort out all the sermon files that I've listened to and copy some more over from my super-sized external hard drive to listen to next.
8. Go for a run or a bike ride. But if it's fine I'll feel guilty for not painting, see #1.
9. Start planning next term's activities for CKC. And the holiday programme for (eek!) three weeks' time.
10. Wash my car. It's filthy. And it needs to go for a warrant next weekend.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Publish or perish
So I have a trip to Melbourne on Monday for a beamline proposal access committee (PAC) meeting to discuss the recent submissions for the next round of beamtime on the x-ray diffraction beamline.
I've been on the PAC for a little under a year so I've come to know its inner workings. Last December when I was in Melbourne for the Australian Synchrotron users' meeting, the chair of the PAC admitted that as chair he had control over who the reviewers for each proposal would be, so to bump new users up the list he would assign their proposals to 'soft' reviewers and more experienced users, like myself, to harsher reviewers.
Which is all fine if you get the time. But it made me a little mad then, and especially now that some of the scores are coming in.
Some of the comments I've received are:
Proposal 1
"The proposal represents quality science, with potential for publication in respected journals, but it is not really a novel and exciting application of synchrotron radiation... “Precise experimental conditions” should have already been determined by some of the “extensive prior electrochemical testing” given that the proposal has been carried over from 2009-1 cycle! More effort should have been made to complete and include these data... Synchrotron radiation is necessary for the work, but although being up with contemporary science, it is not a completely novel and exciting application of synchrotron radiation. The team is a good one, but the outcomes of previous synchrotron radiation experiments are mediocre at best, or poorly portrayed – perhaps new criteria have been applied in the current round of reviewing?"
Proposal 2
"...However, whether or not the time resolution afforded by the microstrip detector is necessary, based on the timeframes over which the experiments are expected to take, is debatable. A lab instrument incorporating a PSD might do the job adequately. Track record - no description given about outcomes of previous Australian Synchrotron experiments. Also, no publications arising from four AS allocations in 2008, so no basis on which to give a score above 0."
If we were allowed the right of response (which we're not) I would say to the reviewer on proposal 1, there's a 600 word limit! As for outcomes being 'mediocre'... well, see below.
and to reviewer on proposal 2, the four allocations were not all for this work, you dork. Oh, and a lab source? Are you joking? We couldn't get the information needed from the Stanford synchrotron, how are we going to get it with a lab source? Idiot. No description, because - oh yes, there it is again - 600 word limit. Fool.
Still, the overwhelming message I'm getting is that it's going to be hard to get time in the near future without publishing. Which itself is hard because often you don't get all the info you need in the first visit, also most of the work I have done has been with PhD students, who are more concerned about writing their thesis than writing papers - the only measure of 'success'.
Contrast these comments I received, with some others.
This about one of the chair's proposals:
"XX has a track record second to none..."
And this about someone whose beamtime was cut short last time:
"This proposal should not have needed to be resubmitted, if they lost a substantial portion of time resulting little data being collected it should have been passed over to the next round."
In my proposal 1 I wrote that it was granted time in the last round but because of a student's visa issue we could not take it up - and got slammed for not having done more lab work.
It is so frustrating. But I don't know whether to complain or not. Or who to. I guess I'll wait and see if the scores turn out to be a problem.
I guess I could always do what other people do, and get one of your collaborators to submit the proposal so it doesn't go against your name. But that's cheating, isn't it? {sigh}
I've been on the PAC for a little under a year so I've come to know its inner workings. Last December when I was in Melbourne for the Australian Synchrotron users' meeting, the chair of the PAC admitted that as chair he had control over who the reviewers for each proposal would be, so to bump new users up the list he would assign their proposals to 'soft' reviewers and more experienced users, like myself, to harsher reviewers.
Which is all fine if you get the time. But it made me a little mad then, and especially now that some of the scores are coming in.
Some of the comments I've received are:
Proposal 1
"The proposal represents quality science, with potential for publication in respected journals, but it is not really a novel and exciting application of synchrotron radiation... “Precise experimental conditions” should have already been determined by some of the “extensive prior electrochemical testing” given that the proposal has been carried over from 2009-1 cycle! More effort should have been made to complete and include these data... Synchrotron radiation is necessary for the work, but although being up with contemporary science, it is not a completely novel and exciting application of synchrotron radiation. The team is a good one, but the outcomes of previous synchrotron radiation experiments are mediocre at best, or poorly portrayed – perhaps new criteria have been applied in the current round of reviewing?"
Proposal 2
"...However, whether or not the time resolution afforded by the microstrip detector is necessary, based on the timeframes over which the experiments are expected to take, is debatable. A lab instrument incorporating a PSD might do the job adequately. Track record - no description given about outcomes of previous Australian Synchrotron experiments. Also, no publications arising from four AS allocations in 2008, so no basis on which to give a score above 0."
If we were allowed the right of response (which we're not) I would say to the reviewer on proposal 1, there's a 600 word limit! As for outcomes being 'mediocre'... well, see below.
and to reviewer on proposal 2, the four allocations were not all for this work, you dork. Oh, and a lab source? Are you joking? We couldn't get the information needed from the Stanford synchrotron, how are we going to get it with a lab source? Idiot. No description, because - oh yes, there it is again - 600 word limit. Fool.
Still, the overwhelming message I'm getting is that it's going to be hard to get time in the near future without publishing. Which itself is hard because often you don't get all the info you need in the first visit, also most of the work I have done has been with PhD students, who are more concerned about writing their thesis than writing papers - the only measure of 'success'.
Contrast these comments I received, with some others.
This about one of the chair's proposals:
"XX has a track record second to none..."
And this about someone whose beamtime was cut short last time:
"This proposal should not have needed to be resubmitted, if they lost a substantial portion of time resulting little data being collected it should have been passed over to the next round."
In my proposal 1 I wrote that it was granted time in the last round but because of a student's visa issue we could not take it up - and got slammed for not having done more lab work.
It is so frustrating. But I don't know whether to complain or not. Or who to. I guess I'll wait and see if the scores turn out to be a problem.
I guess I could always do what other people do, and get one of your collaborators to submit the proposal so it doesn't go against your name. But that's cheating, isn't it? {sigh}
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Home again
Well I arrived home from Chicago this morning. We had two rather tight connections at San Francisco and then at Auckland (because one of my colleagues' bag failed to arrive) but all is well now, for me at least. Still, if you're going to be without luggage it's much better to have it happen going home than going away.
In my absence I think the NZ summer disappeared. Which is a shame, because it'll make finishing my painting job a little bit harder. I don't even want to think about it right now - feeling rather grotty after some 48 hours with only a few hours' sleep here and there - and most of that on a plane.
Still, tomorrow is the only day left this week that I'll have to go in to work. Hopefully I'm coherent by then.
In my absence I think the NZ summer disappeared. Which is a shame, because it'll make finishing my painting job a little bit harder. I don't even want to think about it right now - feeling rather grotty after some 48 hours with only a few hours' sleep here and there - and most of that on a plane.
Still, tomorrow is the only day left this week that I'll have to go in to work. Hopefully I'm coherent by then.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Cccold Chicccago
Just as well I've spent a total of less than about half an hour outside since I arrived here - it's bl***y freezing here. There was snow on the ground on the day we arrived, but the following day it had all pretty much melted as the temperature got a smidgen above freezing, now it is clear skies and all the puddles have frozen (but no more snowfall).
Boy am I glad I live in Wellington with such a mild climate!
The experiments haven't gone as well this time as last; although we are managing to iron out some of the problems and more importantly, understand some of the issues with regards to interpreting the results (or the artefacts, as the case may be).
Each time we come here they have made some improvement or other to the beamline. This time we don't have to change detectors to change the kind of measurement we do (reflectivity or diffraction).
The latest problem we are having is a computer one: the network between the computer that we are doing the analysis on, and the computer that has all the data stored on it, is getting rather flaky. Not only is this really annoying, it's affecting our ability to do the experiments. If we can't analyse the data, we don't know if it's good (yay) or bad (so we know to go back and repeat things).
All in all we have had to deal with a lot of frustrating things and it's taking its toll on the group dynamics... anyway we are in the home stretch now, only 3 nights and 2 days to go.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Next trip: Chicago
My next trip begins today; once again we are off to Chicago for some x-ray diffraction and x-ray reflectivity experiments on Langmuir monolayer films. The aim of the experiments is to gain understanding into the biomineralisation process, by which our bodies produce bone.
Last time we were here, I was coping with a broken collarbone. Thankfully I don't have that to contend with this time. However the weather is supposed to be cold - chance of snow and all that. It feels really strange to be packing a thick winter jacket, gloves, and woolly hat, while wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
This week Mike has been staying at my place. Originally it was only meant to be for 2 days while he visited IRL, then we were going to drive up to Whakapapa to do the Tongariro northern circuit. But a nasty weather system decided to come across from Queensland and muck up our plans, so we ended up just doing a few easy day walks around the Wellington region (Orongorongo valley and Kaitoke). We had wondered about heading up to Lake Waikaremoana instead of Tongariro, but decided against it. In hindsight, it has worked out for the best. The timing was always going to be tight as far as driving back today, washing and drying all the clothes, then packing and getting to the airport by 2:30. And it just needed one of us to slip on a rock to completely mess everything up. The experiments in Chicago are too important to risk it in marginal conditions. Mike will just have to make another trip down under!
Mike and I getting blown off Marchant Ridge, Tararua ranges
Last time we were here, I was coping with a broken collarbone. Thankfully I don't have that to contend with this time. However the weather is supposed to be cold - chance of snow and all that. It feels really strange to be packing a thick winter jacket, gloves, and woolly hat, while wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
This week Mike has been staying at my place. Originally it was only meant to be for 2 days while he visited IRL, then we were going to drive up to Whakapapa to do the Tongariro northern circuit. But a nasty weather system decided to come across from Queensland and muck up our plans, so we ended up just doing a few easy day walks around the Wellington region (Orongorongo valley and Kaitoke). We had wondered about heading up to Lake Waikaremoana instead of Tongariro, but decided against it. In hindsight, it has worked out for the best. The timing was always going to be tight as far as driving back today, washing and drying all the clothes, then packing and getting to the airport by 2:30. And it just needed one of us to slip on a rock to completely mess everything up. The experiments in Chicago are too important to risk it in marginal conditions. Mike will just have to make another trip down under!
Mike and I getting blown off Marchant Ridge, Tararua ranges
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Top Gear Live = awesome
So last weekend Stu, one of his mates Lee, and I flew up to Auckland for the day to go to Top Gear Live. We booked the tickets and flights about 3 months ago and to tell you the truth, with everything going on with the conference last week and hosting Mike this week, I'd almost forgotten about it.
The show was, to use a favourite word of Jeremy Clarkson, 'Brilliant!'
And they say a picture says a thousand words so here's eight thousand words for you. Enjoy.
Before the show.
Mini car race between Hammond, Murph and Clarkson.
Clarkson + mini car + jet engines = loud x fast.
{{ Video of a stunt comprising Clarkson, Murph, a shopping trolley, and skittles. }}
Audience participation = Clarkson rightly calling people idiots.
Doing the 'Cool Wall'.
Car soccer = cool!
And video = 2 x cool!
Car soccer injuries = not cool...
After the show... Lamborghini = NIIICE.
The proof I was there. QED.
The show was, to use a favourite word of Jeremy Clarkson, 'Brilliant!'
And they say a picture says a thousand words so here's eight thousand words for you. Enjoy.
Before the show.
Mini car race between Hammond, Murph and Clarkson.
Clarkson + mini car + jet engines = loud x fast.
{{ Video of a stunt comprising Clarkson, Murph, a shopping trolley, and skittles. }}
Audience participation = Clarkson rightly calling people idiots.
Doing the 'Cool Wall'.
Car soccer = cool!
And video = 2 x cool!
Car soccer injuries = not cool...
After the show... Lamborghini = NIIICE.
The proof I was there. QED.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
When scientists are clueless
I got back today from a conference down in Dunedin. Overall it was ok; my talk went ok and I made contact with a bunch of colleagues I don't get to see much.
I had an interesting conversation with somebody I don't normally agree with, when he noted that people who've won the Nobel prize in physics or chemistry tend to develop an arrogance (if they didn't have it already). Somehow receiving that makes one infallible. And no less so than the Nobel prize winner who spoke at our conference.
As usual (he was invited to a different conference here 2 years ago) his talk was entertaining. This time it was basically a story of his life and research over the years. His interest, he said, was studing the vibrations of molecules that exist in stars. Which was fine, except at one point in his presentation he pointed to a picture of a star and said, 'This is Mummy. This is where you came from.' Grr.
As if that wasn't bad enough, at some unrelated point further in the point he said, '29% of British school teachers want creationism to be taught alongside Darwinian evolution in the classrooms. That should scare you. Think about the implications.'
Excuse me? Saying a star is 'mummy' is less ridiculous than believing that God is able to create the world in seven days? Yeah right.
That wasn't the only slur I heard during the week against people holding Christian beliefs.
(The reason is clear: people don't want to believe in God because they don't want to be accountable to Him.)
I can't help but feel the time is soon coming when I'm going to be dragged onto the carpet for believing what I do. Rationally, it doesn't make sense, because in a way my faith doesn't impact on my job at all. Yet for some people, they see it as a threat to the scientific culture. Still, I am a Christian first and scientist second and the first is non-negotiable. I don't have to think twice about that.
I had an interesting conversation with somebody I don't normally agree with, when he noted that people who've won the Nobel prize in physics or chemistry tend to develop an arrogance (if they didn't have it already). Somehow receiving that makes one infallible. And no less so than the Nobel prize winner who spoke at our conference.
As usual (he was invited to a different conference here 2 years ago) his talk was entertaining. This time it was basically a story of his life and research over the years. His interest, he said, was studing the vibrations of molecules that exist in stars. Which was fine, except at one point in his presentation he pointed to a picture of a star and said, 'This is Mummy. This is where you came from.' Grr.
As if that wasn't bad enough, at some unrelated point further in the point he said, '29% of British school teachers want creationism to be taught alongside Darwinian evolution in the classrooms. That should scare you. Think about the implications.'
Excuse me? Saying a star is 'mummy' is less ridiculous than believing that God is able to create the world in seven days? Yeah right.
That wasn't the only slur I heard during the week against people holding Christian beliefs.
(The reason is clear: people don't want to believe in God because they don't want to be accountable to Him.)
I can't help but feel the time is soon coming when I'm going to be dragged onto the carpet for believing what I do. Rationally, it doesn't make sense, because in a way my faith doesn't impact on my job at all. Yet for some people, they see it as a threat to the scientific culture. Still, I am a Christian first and scientist second and the first is non-negotiable. I don't have to think twice about that.
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